CIMIT -Wellcome Co-Host ‘Anglo-American’ Innovation Summit

President John F. Kennedy once entered a room full of key thinkers and said, “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered here . . . with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined here alone.”

CIMIT recently co-hosted an innovation summit with the Wellcome Trust of the United Kingdom on “Models of Collaborative Medical Innovation.” More than 80 representatives of some of the most influential institutions in America and the United Kingdom participated in the two-day event (July 12-13).

The Wellcome Trust is an independent charity in the U.K. that funds research to improve human and animal health. Established in 1936 and with an endowment of $26 billion (U.S.), it is the U.K.’s largest non-government source of funds for biomedical research.

Those who CIMIT and Wellcome convened for the conference included representatives of healthcare, academia, industry and government.

Participants from the healthcare field included leaders from Partners HealthCare, Massachusetts General Hospital, the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Academic institutions included MIT, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of California (San Francisco), and Boston University.

Companies and/or private foundations present included Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble/Gillette, Boston Scientific, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Kauffman Foundation. Federal officials present included those from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and Telemedicine (NIBIB) and Telemedicine and Advanced Technologies Research Center (TATRC).

“Mark Walport (director of Wellcome Trust) and I talked a year ago about what we might learn if we convened a diverse group from the UK and USA to explore successful models for innovation,” said John Parrish, MD, director of CIMIT. “We felt we could learn from each other, and together we could explore key elements of transformational change.”

Summit participants analyzed lessons learned from policy and strategy initiatives at cutting-edge institutions, so that existing models can be enhanced and new models can be created.

HBS professors lead discussions
Driving discussions were several members of the Harvard Business School faculty, including Clayton Christiansen, Kent Bowen and Daniel Snow.

Topics that were discussed included aspects of the future of healthcare, discovery-driven planning and identification of new trends that will affect organizations. Presenters looked at several real-life models, including the laboratory of MIT Professor Robert Langer, and Triton Pharmaceuticals.

Goals of the discussions included identifying metrics with which to judge success, and comparing the value of interdisciplinary research. Those present also were interested in developing new insights into innovation and exploring methods of encouraging innovation in multi-faceted institutions such as universities, medical centers and private corporations.

“This was an exciting and useful conference,” said Dr. Parrish. “We shared our model with others, got terrific feedback form attendees and learned how other institutions are collaborating for success. We will build on this for the future.”